Boeing has announced that all of its major manufacturing facilities received the internationally recognized ISO 14001 environmental certification by the end of 2008, marking achievement of one of the company’s most significant environmental goals. Certification is a global benchmark of an organization’s commitment to understand and continually improve its environmental performance.
“We recognized many areas of excellence at Boeing, from employee involvement programs to recycling efforts, in one of the most aggressive ISO 14001 certification efforts we’ve seen,” says Sidney Vianna, director of Aviation, Space & Defense Services for independent auditors Det Norske Veritas, an accredited certification body of quality, environmental, and safety management systems. “Congratulations to Boeing on this significant accomplishment. We look forward to our ongoing partnership in continual environmental improvement.”
The following Boeing sites certified during 2008 were commended for their environmental performance with more than 80 positive noteworthy efforts and no major nonconformances:
• Alabama: Huntsville
• Arizona: Mesa
• Australia: Bankstown, Fishermans Bend
• California: El Segundo, Long Beach, Seal Beach, Sylmar, Taft, Torrance
• Canada: Winnipeg
• Florida: Kennedy Space Center
• Missouri: St. Louis, St. Charles
• Pennsylvania: Philadelphia
• Texas: San Antonio
• Utah: Salt Lake City
• Washington: Auburn, Frederickson, Renton, and North Boeing Field, Integrated Defense Systems sites in Puget Sound
“As a responsible corporate citizen and neighbor we are focused on reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and waste at our facilities,” says Mary Armstrong, Boeing vice president, Environment, Health and Safety. “Certification is a tremendous achievement by our employees, ensuring that Boeing products, from our super-efficient commercial airplanes to our military aircraft, satellites, and world record-holding solar cells, are manufactured in facilities that conform to the ISO 14001 standard of environmental performance.”
Facilities in Exmouth, Australia; Everett, Wash.; and Portland, Ore. had previously achieved ISO 14001 certification. Boeing is committed to pioneering environmentally progressive products and services and reducing its environmental footprint. Some other highlights of its 2008 work include the establishment of aggressive targets to improve by 25 percent greenhouse gas emissions intensity, energy efficiency, and recycling rates at its major manufacturing facilities by 2012, with a similar goal for hazardous waste reduction. The company also conducted the world’s first series of test flights powered in part by sustainable biofuels, in collaboration with Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, and Japan Airlines. Boeing is focused on research for advanced generations of sustainable biofuels using biomass that do not compete with food crops or water resources, and it released an environmental report detailing its performance, strategy, and actions to reduce its environmental footprint and lead the aerospace industry with environmentally progressive products and services. In addition, it conducted the world’s first straight-and-level flight of a manned airplane powered only by a fuel-cell, led by Madrid-based Boeing Research & Technology Europe—the research may benefit secondary aircraft system power use—and it delivered of world-record holding solar cells by Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab, Inc., to an Australian customer to power a 154MW power station.
To learn more go to [www.boeing.com].
